Nuciforo, a Democrat, said he does not plan to repay himself. “As a candidate, I’ve always believed that if a candidate asks others to contribute to an effort, that candidate has to demonstrate some interest in putting some skin in the game,” Nuciforo said. “That $70,000 represents my contribution to that effort.”

Nuciforo, a Pittsfield attorney and former state senator, challenged incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Richard Neal of Springfield. He lost in the September 2012 primary, getting 25 percent of the vote compared to 65 percent for Neal. Political activist Bill Shein received 10 percent.

Nuciforo has since finished his term as Berkshire Middle District Register of Deeds and is continuing to practice law in private practice. End of year Federal Election Commission filings show that Nuciforo’s campaign committee owed $75,000 as of the end of the year, months after Nuciforo’s campaign ended, with all but $5,000 of that to Nuciforo himself.

Campaign finance was a large part of the congressional campaign, with both Nuciforo and Shein criticizing Neal for taking campaign donations from Wall Street and from corporate interests. Asked whether his debt illustrates the need for a candidate to raise money from outside interests, Nuciforo responded, “Any successful campaign requires resources, and money is one of those resources. You can tell from the reports we filed over last couple of years, you can see where our contributions came from. Some came from me personally but the overwhelming majority came from individual contributors.”

Nuciforo did not rule out running for office again in the future. “I’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” he said.

Neal’s end of year report showed him with $2 million in cash in the bank. Shein, who accepted only individual donations of less than $99, essentially broke even and finished the year with $1,000 in his campaign account.